The present invention relates generally to stationery products, and, more specifically, to high speed and volume mailing systems.
Many companies have thousands of customers to which they periodically mail various documents during the normal course of business. The documents may include typical bills, checks, forms, and direct response applications. Periodic mailings typically occur on a monthly basis for many commercial applications.
Accordingly, these companies typically utilize conventional high volume and high speed equipment for printing the documents, compiling the documents in corresponding envelopes, and mailing the envelopes en masse.
The processing equipment used by these companies is specially configured for sustained, continuous, high speed operation including the printing and compiling of envelopes in thousands of units per hour. The systems are computer controlled and include sophisticated drive systems for sustaining the high speed throughput of the documents through the many stages of operation, from the initially provided printing medium or paper to the finally assembled envelopes.
Once the system is set into operation, it may operate continuously for many hours without operator intervention, unless problems are developed. Any problem which interrupts the high speed operation of the system has an associated cost in lost productivity as well as increased expense.
Accordingly, these companies require reliable processing equipment, and a high quality initial stationery product which can withstand the high speed processing thereof through the equipment. The typical stationery product for this equipment is a large diameter roll of printing media such as typical paper. The paper roll is initially provided from a paper mill company in a long web having plain or blank opposite sides.
The plain mill roll is then processed by an intermediate company that typically preprints on one or both sides of the web fixed or background printing for a particular high volume commercial customer, such as retail companies, utility companies, and credit card companies.
The roll is preprinted to define the specific configuration of the final document to be used by the associated customer. The individual document may have one or more pages with background print which will later be over-printed by the final customer with the requisite variable print thereon, such as typical billing statements or payment checks.
The documents are arranged in a repeating series along the running length of the product roll, and may also repeat across the transverse width of the web.
The web typically also includes various lines of perforations typically bridging the width of the web so that the individual documents may later be cleanly torn along the perforations as required for the specific document configuration and intended use.
The mill roll is typically printed in a high speed lithographic printer capable of printing thousands of page impressions per hour as the paper web is unwound from the mill roll and rewound into the product roll in preferably continuous high speed operation.
However, problems may develop in printing the mill roll which can interrupt the continuous printing thereof. In this case, hundreds of feet of the web may be improperly printed, or printed with defects rendering this section of the product roll unusable by the intended customer.
Another potential problem with the mill roll is the inclusion therein of a typical mill splice at which corresponding ends of the web are overlapped and adhesively bonded together to form the required diameter of the mill roll and associated requisite length of the web.
Mill splices are typically undesirable since they can adversely affect performance of the high speed processing equipment, and will present a significant defect in any document finally containing the mill splice.
Accordingly, the intermediate company will doctor the preprinted product to remove undesirable defects therein. For example, the long sections of improperly printed web will be removed from the web and discarded as print waste. And, any mill splice found in the roll will also be removed and discarded.
The sections of the web are typically removed in a manual operation by a technician and the corresponding severed ends of the web are manually spliced together in splice known as a press splice. The press splice may be a simple overlap of the web ends suitably adhesively bonded together. Or, the press splice may use a narrow strip of adhesive tape to join together the web ends at a transverse butt joint extending across the full width of the web.
The press splice is specifically configured for maintaining strength of the product roll when subsequently used in high speed laser printers by the intended customer. In a laser printer, a hot fusion roller is provided, and the press splice must be sufficiently strong to withstand the heat of the fusion roller without failure.
Furthermore, during the doctoring process the specific form of documents has already been preprinted on the web, and the press splice is then specifically introduced into the web at a convenient location either at the junction between two documents, or along a line of perforations therein to minimize the adverse aesthetic appearance thereof.
However, some intended customers may still find the press splice undesirable or unacceptable. Very few of such press splices are found in an individual product roll, yet even one press splice may be unacceptable to the customer since that splice will eventually be found in the final document mailed to the intended recipient or retail customer.
Accordingly, during the doctoring process a small flag can be introduced at the site of the press splice so that it is readily visible externally on the exposed side of the roll by the customer's technician. The technician, in turn will mount the infeed product roll into the high speed processing equipment therefor, and that equipment will be operated normally at high speed until the product roll is sufficiently unwound to the region of the flagged splice. The equipment will then be operated at relatively low speed to isolate the flagged splice and then ensure that the document containing the press splice is not printed or further used. Upon passing the flagged splice, the high speed printer then returns to high speed operation.
This typical manner of avoiding the use of the flagged splice document interrupts the high speed processing of the entire roll and is a significant problem when there may be only one or two press splices found in the entire product roll, which represents only one or two unacceptable documents in the multiple thousands of documents produced from the single product roll.
Interrupting the high speed printing of the product roll correspondingly reduces throughput of the printer, requires additional time to complete the full batch from the product roll, and has an associated extra cost in processing.
Although the preprinted web is typically rewound into the press or product roll, it may alternatively be provided in a large fanfold product for subsequent use by the customer. In either roll or fanfold form the preprinted product may still include the undesirable press splice.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide an improved document product for eliminating the need to interrupt high speed processing thereof when a press splice is found therein.